


Obi-Wan's Flawed Understanding

by WingletBlackbird



Series: Obi-Wan Kenobi's Character [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Gen, Meta Essay, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, cross-posted from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 07:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17018433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingletBlackbird/pseuds/WingletBlackbird
Summary: Why it seems Obi-Wan never truly understood why Anakin fell to the Dark Side.





	Obi-Wan's Flawed Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> This essay makes reference to concepts that I have spoken of in other essay like A Nurturing Environment and Pros and Cons of the Jedi Order about the misapplied/misunderstood teachings of the Jedi Order that lead to something unhealthy.

It’s a sign of how little Obi-Wan understood Anakin’s fall,  and even the Republic’s and the Jedi Order’s fall, that he tells Luke “I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda.” The simple fact of the matter is Yoda may very well have been even worse for Anakin! Yoda was one the most outspoken against Anakin’s training, because he was too attached, or afraid, or old, or angry, or  _different_ , and Yoda never helped actively deal with these understandable traits, nor provided any positive support, but just rejected him for it, (and placed undue pressure on Obi-Wan). Yoda never had much faith in Anakin, and Anakin knew it: How detrimental to a child. In many ways it was self-fulfilling prophecy that Anakin fell. Yoda was at the front of this. He, more than perhaps anyone, was against Anakin’s training. Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship may have been built on an unsteady foundation, but Obi-Wan was certainly far better for Anakin than almost any other Jedi could have been.

Obi-Wan doesn’t understand this. He doesn’t know precisely why Anakin fell, but he blames himself, and thinks if he’d been more “Jedi” and traditional about training Anakin, maybe he wouldn’t have fallen. Maybe if he had listened to Yoda more and not  _indulged_  Anakin, things would have been different. He never understands it was the Order’s apathy, the misunderstood/misapplied teachings they circulated within their ranks, and the cold reception that Anakin received as a result that was the issue–not just in Anakin’s fall but in the Jedi Order’s in general. All of this can be seen in one simple phrase. It rather poignantly shows that Obi-Wan, even when he died, even after he died, never understood the underlying truth of Anakin’s fall. He never realised Anakin was the result of an upbringing that was toxic, and that Yoda did in no way mitigate this. In fact, he was the head of an organisation that encouraged it. It only adds to the tragedy.

(This is why those Obi-Wan goes back in time and fixes things fanfics have yet to really satisfy me, as Obi-Wan wouldn’t have known what to fix in the first place…)

**Author's Note:**

> This meta was posted some time ago on Tumblr. It lead to a very good discussion if you want to go check that out to see what people added in their reblogs.


End file.
